Obsidian Mind
by AUselessMicroFluff Miccahlee
Summary: "You are just figments and fragments of my real life. Your fake lives do not matter to me." Apparently nothing today was like it seemed, and Ratchet had no idea why. But as he begins to become deeply involved in his world, he begins to unravel the truth to what it all means, and ultimately, what it might cost. (rated T)
1. Life is strange

**_Walking..._**

**_Walking..._**

**_Walking..._**

**_Pause._**

**_I stood high above the ruins of what was my old home, taking a good look at my surroundings and smiled; a first in a few days ever since I kinda set of a chain of events total and unnecessarily uncalled for._**

**_Events that in reality, I'm not capable of even doing due to being ME._**

**_It all seemed real...but so fake at the same time..._**

**_It must be a dream..._**

**_'Did I overdo it?' I thought._**

**_Did it even _****_matter?_**

* * *

The way I found out I was dreaming was on a beautiful morning- depending on your definition of "beautiful". Mine was one with no sun emerging from its clouds yet, the warm breeze feeling as good as it could be on my fur to walk about in, which apparently I was about to do.

Dawn.

I found myself quietly tiptoeing towards the door of my apartment, making sure that it closes without making a sound that could alert my pal Clank, who was currently in sleep mode on a chair in our room, that I was leaving for a while. I didn't need him to stop me.

Once outside, I took in a big mouthful of the Luminopolis air, sighed and began to walk off.

There was no destination, to be honest. There wasn't even any plan created nor an objective that needed to be accomplished.

I just...walked.

Around me, I could hear the noises of passing hovercars began to slowly increase as the citizens of the city began to get started on whatever they usually did: heading to possible jobs or transporting packages and stuff of that nature.

Things that didn't concern me at the moment and so it was ignored

During my half hazy walk, I passed by a few bots chatting about some new product that came out on a bench. I slowed my pace to hear the conversation.

When they noticed my presence, they gave me small waves and I walked off quickly without returning any.

I remembered seeing a few birds; scared them off with a roar and got funny looks from passersby. I later hung out at a park for a while, on a swing until a girl asked if she could go on and so I let her.

She looked familiar...

There were other things I did in between the minutes counting that I vaguely remembered, but what I do know is that I then spent 15 minutes sitting nearby a fountain, thinking about the usual stuff in my life -mechanic jobs, certain pieces I wanted to buy soon, the next episode in a crime drama I just got into.

Talwyn and Clank became my main focus afterwards. But I had no idea why...

_'Speaking of Clank, he should be up right now..'_ I remember thinking as I looked up at sky- that's when I noticed that the sun had just begun to break through the clouds, officially announcing the arrival of the morning and goodbye to dawn. But I hadn't noted that due to the city's glowing lights making everything look as if were daytime everyday.

_Wait...wasn't it already supposed to be morning? There's no way that everything I did was done in mere seconds...?_

Suddenly I snapped back into focus, as if everything I've done beforehand had happened hazy and cloudy, without any reason to remember- as if it were faked completely.

It never happened...and It felt wrong. Something felt off. I didn't even remember waking up from my bed...

_...and that girl..._

I got up from my seat and began to make my way back home at a brisk pace, lost in thoughts and very alarmed about something for some reason.

A hover taxi passed by me, the galaxy's radio showman announcing today's date April 25.

_Wait...that can't be right...Today was Tuesday, May 21, wasn't it_, I remember asking myself over and over.

_Wasn't it?_

* * *

******Author's Note:**

**Apparently this is a random story Im writing. I dont really think Ill finish it soon, but I'll post what I have already done here, in case maybe someone would either take the story and fill it afterwards or something.**


	2. Set-Time Intervals

**_The scenery was hectic. Fires roared in the distance, its glows lighting up the city as if though everything was back to normal._**

**_As if._**

**_"Let it burn..." I sang out, my voice trembling. "let it all burn"_**

**_Just then, I heard an explosion nearby. But I didn't assume anything; it was just probably a beam giving way from a building._**

**_The wind blew my fur softly, my tail swished slightly. The sky was dark, yet even with the glow of fire everything still felt cold._**

**_"Did I overdo it?" I asked to no one._**

**_There was no response. Behind me, another building toppled over._**

**_I wrapped my cloak around me tighter._**

**_Okay...Maybe I had overdone it a little.._**

* * *

_Did Clank miss me?_

_Nah, I'm pretty sure he didn't._

_Or maybe he is, and is worried...I'm so late..._

_Or just pissed._

_Wait...what?_

"Why am I late-?" I said aloud to myself before cupping my mouth shut. Apparently, I hadn't realized I was in a public area. Around me, bots and organics alike stopped what they were doing and gave me a strange look. I looked down to remain anonymous and walked faster, even though I could already feel what seemed like 20 pairs of eyes looking at me.

_I really had no idea what got into me on that day. Ever since I realized something was off, it triggered things...like a catalyst..something that ticked inside of me that said enough._

_Enough with the monotonous routine of my life._

I began to feel sleepy, the hazy zombie like feeling creeping up inside of me as I began to remember why I began to walk:

_Being a hero was okay in itself. There was the popularity, the fame and fortune of being known. But all that hype and need for attention grew old, withered and died. I found myself regressing back to needing solidarity._

_Hence the walks._

_The habit of walking alone, on the early morning hours came on its own, like an intruder that did not want to leave. It pestered me as a thought in my head after all the craziness that happened before today. It grew bigger and bigger till one day where I woke up early morning and just walked out of the door._

The trips became frequent, as I realized:

_At least 4-5 times a week I left early, sometimes spending around 1-2 hours just wandering whatever city me and my pal happened to be staying in. The rest of the time left in the day were spent doing normal things like working in the garage, or grocery shopping with Clank._

All in all, it was _normal...right?_

It made sense.

Clank took notice of my walks after the 3rd week of leaving for around 4-5 hours walking, apparently. A flashback created by my subconscious trying to fit everything together played in my mind:

* * *

_Ratchet, is there something bothering you?,' he asked suddenly, with a worried expression on his face as we watched the HV, 'you have been taking longer and longer walks.'_

_I looked at him. 'No. Everything's fine and dandy as could be.' I plastered a false smile on my face._

_Clank looked at me, apparently not buying it._

_'Ratchet, I know when you are lying.'_

_I scoffed and stood up a little on my chair. 'Oh really?' I rolled my eyes. 'Then I must be caught red handed.'_

_He sighed. 'let us not try to get into an argument today.'_

_'Yea...lets not.' I said this while sinking back onto the couch._

_Clank titled his head a little, looking passively with those eyes of sorrow. "I really do hope everything is alright,' he said as he took the remote from its place on the table and changed the channel. 'I am here if you want to talk about anything.'_

_I got up quietly from my spot after 2 minutes and decided to head back to bed. I paused before exiting the room to turn to look at him again._

_'I know pal. But it's nothing. Just thinking about stuff. The walks help me relax.'_

_Even though I didn't see it, I could feel Clank smiling at me; I could also feel his eyes following me as I walked off. I knew he knew the words were just a facade._

_But why do I feel like it's a good thing?_

* * *

I paused in front of the apartment door. I didn't even bother to knock or even breath as my mind began to scramble and look for answers as to why I was feeling so weird.

It didn't make sense: everything seemed pretty normal. I turned to look at the scenery behind me.

_The trees are fine, the people look like...people. I look like me._

_Yet why am I...?_

It was at this time when I heard strange noises inside my head. Moving noises- footsteps. It was as if there was someone living inside of my head, moving things around or walking themselves, but the noises were muffled. So far away that it seemed as if it never _happened._

I felt something being placed over my body and I jumped, rubbing myself rapidly to shake off the sudden ghostly feeling. Maybe some sort of dust?

_If Luminopolis was a dust ridden area, yea._

I as about to shake it off until the feeling came back. I jumped and rubbed my arms like crazy.

_What is going on?_


	3. 5,4,3,2

_**It would have been slightly welcoming if the silence lagged on longer. Sadly that wasn't possible, I thought as I could hear the small huffs of breath coming from my friends behind me. **_

_**I smiled slightly.**_

_**'Ah, took you guys long, huh?" I said, turning to face them with as much bravado as I could in my voice. "I was getting pretty lonely here all by myself, admiring the handiwork."**_

_**Talwyn, Sasha, Clank and Quark all staggered from whatever fatigue they had of chasing me around and sat in a heap on the floor of the roof without saying a word.**_

_**I pointed to a building that at the moment began to collapse under its broken weight. "You like?"**_

_**Talwyn was the first to speak. "Ratchet...," she coughed, "that's...that's enough..."**_

_**"Enough..," I muttered softly, a little crestfallen that she didn't even bother to comment on what I had just done. It was a little cool; the smoke coming from the debris of metal and other types used grinding against each other, making a beautiful noise that rode along the wind to where we were. "that's ...enough..."**_

_**"Listen, you had your fun," the voice came from Sasha, pushing her hair aside from her face. She had small scratch marks on her cheeks, and a little blood too from what I could see. "But you need to stop whatever you are doing."**_

_**The rest of the group nodded in agreement.**_

_**My face dropped quickly as I blanked out for a second; I could feel the anxiety begin to rise and I pushed it down.**_

_**"Stop..," I said softly, the word becoming foreign in my tongue the more I kept repeating it, "why do I need to stop..?"**_

* * *

I walked across the park and jumped a few benches before getting home, highly expecting a 'you are so in trouble' face waiting for me when I entered through the door.

_Wait...Wasn't I already standing by the door a few minutes ago...? _I thought.

_No, you thought you did. You have too much daydreams, sometimes,_ my consciousness replied.

"Fair enough."

I kept my mouth shut and fixed my face into one of cheer and walked right in.

"Hello there!" Clank said happily as I closed the door behind me. I waved slightly back at him as rubbed my eyes and yawned. In the background, I could hear that he was watching a movie, and by the amount of screaming and gore, it was probably a bad ass one.

_Huh...I've never known Clank was really interested in a movie like that_...my subconscious said, but I ignored it completely as I made way towards the kitchen to grab a bite. Upon arrival, I found a small tray with cookies waiting. Figuring that no one besides me could even eat them, I took the tray and sat on my spot on the couch.

"Mmm, you made these?" I asked, stuffing the cookies in my mouth. It was good.

"Yes. I was a little bored today, so I went off to the store for some things." He chuckled.

"Ah."

After a few minutes and knife chasing scenes after, Clank asked, "how was your day at the park?"

I devoured another 3 cookies. "It was fine."

"Fine as in...?"

"Spent my time thinking whether I should-" I said before my voice trailed off without finishing the sentence.

I slowly turned to face him with a puzzled look.

Clank looked at me. "What?" he said, confused. "Did I say something?"

I slowly nodded. "Clank...how did you know I was going to the park...?"

A shrug was his response.

"Did I tell you yesterday...about going to the park?" I added.

All I received was another shrug, which made me begin to feel wrong.

As much as I wanted to jump off the couch and shoot up to my room like crazy, I remained calm, though at this point, I was completely freaked out by everything that was happening. I could not understand why I felt so strange. _What the hell is happening...?_, my mind screamed for clarity as I slowly turned to face the HV, _why does everything seem so normal yet not even...?_

"Clank, what's today's date?"

"It is April 25."

I froze.

"That's..."

_The time span..._

_That girl..._

_Clank..._

The HV's screen was **BLANK**\- which was completely impossible since I was just watching something 3 minutes ago. The remote itself hasnt even been _touched._

_I'm dreaming.._.I uttered as the realization hit me.

_I'm awake inside of my dream..._

"Ratchet...is something wrong?" I heard Clank ask worriedly.

_You are nothing but a dream..._

"Ratchet?"

"Yea, I had a great day," I said, resuming where I had last cut off my sentence. "I spent my day thinking about whether I should give taking over the world a try. Or at least attempt to make this dream I'm having be epic before I wake up."

I couldnt believe I said all that with a flat face.

We both remained silently looking at each other. Clank didn't say a word. I kept my eyes locked on his. Could make Clank say whatever I wanted him to say? I dont know. But when I tried, it didn't work.

_Wow that was-_

"Wow, that was something", Clank said suddenly.

I blinked. _That's what I was going to say..._

_Cool..._

I laughed like crazy and got up from the couch. "Clank my buddy," I said with a slow evil grin taking the place of my smile and an action pose. "I think it's time..." -pulls out black sunglasses- "for us to turn this galaxy upside down!"

The room got really quiet once I finished talking. Clank shifted uncomfortably from his seat.

"I think there is something wrong with you.." he said after the initial shock of my sudden change in behavior washed over.

I gave him a sweet innocent smile. "What makes you think that, buddy ol' pal?"

"I knew there was something wrong with you," he repeated again. "I told Miss Talwyn about your constant walks and about how you have been displaying signs of depression and-"

"Depression?" I exclaimed. I placed my hands on my hips, bent over a little down and peered closely at Clank., eye level. "Really now, you though I was DEPRESSED?"

We both stared at each other.

"Oh wow, my own subconscious thinks I'm depressed!"

Clank looked at me. "Subconscious? Ratchet, I think you better-"

"Look here, whatever happens right now is a dream. Nothing real, so quit being such a killjoy and help me with my conquest of the galaxy!" I grabbed Clank's hand excitedly. "Come on! We'll have so much fun and it'd be a great change to see what the galaxy's heroic duo could muster up as bad guys! We might be even better the Nefarious!"

Clank pulled his hands away, with deep concern etched on his face. "I need to call Miss Talwyn..." he said softly, getting down from the couch.

"Why?"

"You maybe be suffering a psychotic breakdown..."

I frowned. "what psychotic break? Jeez, you are as worry packed as the actual Clank in reality."

He shook his head. "Oh dear..."

I smiled and broke into a run. "Well, if you're not going to help me, then Ill go off on my own." I shouted back to him

"Ratchet, wait-!"

I ran all the way towards the garage, where I had my various tools of the trade: omniwrench, the Praetorian omniwrench, and several other weapons of mass destruction all organized in a nice corner that I had bought during my trips down along the saving the galaxy route.

I reached out for my wrench when I noticed I pushed it aside. Like, literally _aside_. I couldn't even grab the damned thing.

"Huh..."

I kept trying to grab my omniwrench. It wouldn't let me touch it. I proceeded to try to grab all the other stuff in the corner. It was always the same result.

_none would let me near it._

"Son of a..."

I ended up causing everything to fall on the floor with a loud bang. I then heard small footsteps behind me, and turned to find Clank standing with his hands crossed.

"You coming?" I asked in hopes that my mind may have changed his mind.

"No."

I frowned, and looked at my hands. I raised one up, and caused a pile of old magazines to fall over from its shelf, before looking back up to who I considered my friend with eyes shining in mischief. I could tell he just saw what I did.

"Well then..." I smiled. "that's too bad."

* * *

**Author's note**

**So apparently, this chapter was written in class. its weird because I wasn't really wake, yet I was still taking notes down whiile typing. If some parts were confusing, thats how it was suppose to be written as. Because so far, Ratchet is really confused.**


	4. Road to Chaos (Chaos and Cherry)

_**Ratchet, you know this is not right," I heard Clank say behind me as we all stood on top of the roof of what remained of Clank's and my old home.**_

_**I remained silent, thinking about what to say. The wind blew softly, and I could hear the flaps of my ragged old cloak sway with every blow. I could also hear the small breaths of air the rest of my friends emitted as their bodies slowly began to relax.**_

_**"Nothing is right," I finally replied in a monotone voice, "nothing was ever right in the first place, and I need answers."**_

_**"Then shoot." This came from Quark himself after a pause.**_

_**I turned to face all of them, and noticed that they were all sitting casually on broken pieces of building material, facing me as if I was a reporter and they the interviewees.**_

_**"First off, why am I here?," I asked, pausing before continuing. "Last time I remember, I wasn't in Luminopolis; I was in Metropolis."**_

_**They looked at each other.**_

_**"You should know," Clank said.**_

_**"But I don't"**_

_**"You chose to be here." Sasha said after a brief pause of her own.**_

_**"Chose?" I folded my hands.**_

_**"Yea, you pretty much did," Talwyn confirmed.**_

_**I scoffed. "And how did I 'choose' exactly?"**_

_**I received no reply back.**_

* * *

It was 5 minutes into takeoff that I began to feel a little uneasy.

It wasn't because I felt bad about having done what I did to Clank- well, I did feel slightly bad about that. But that wasn't what was on my mind.

No, it was because I was having second thoughts on whether I had really lost _my_ mind.

Leaving the home in Luminopolis was tricky: I forgot that Clank had moves up his metaphorical sleeves (due to actually being part of the team in our adventures so I underestimated his abilities) and had made it extremely difficult for me to even step one foot out the door without getting shot at with what seemed like point-blank precision.

_Of course he was a good shot; he was my conscious after all. A piece of me resided in him. One I couldn't __**control**__._

I had to dodge the oncoming hail of blasts from the various weapons I had by hiding behind the couch and tables and stuff before the realization that I could deflect and manipulate my surroundings kicked in.

This automatically strengthened my theory about being awake in my dream as I telekinetically pushed Clank off to the side when he attempted to make contact with Talwyn, who was calling from the HV. I then mentally wrapped him in thick wires while smashing the HV into smithereens and afterwards left on Aphelion.

Lemme tell you now,_ that_ was a stupid idea.

Now, I find myself trying to leave Aphelion, who was filling the ship with snooze mist after takeoff. I held my breath as she kept tossing me around without end, trying to make me lose oxygen and give in as well as apologizing and assuring me that everything would be alright.

_As if._

"Hiiiiikkkkkkkkyuuu," I squeaked as what was left of a gasp of air in my lungs left, leaving me like an empty canister or a balloon with a small hole after Aphelion made a hard right and caused me to slam into the window. To be honest, It was terrifying- my head began to spin like crazy, I could feel my face slowly growing hotter, like I was being compressed.

_I was going to either die or placed somewhere, and I didn't want __**neither**__._

"Ratchet, I am so sorry," the ship apologized again, before making another sharp turn. I could feel my face sting from the impact as once again I was tossed to the side.

Another breathful of air escaped my lungs. I was quickly running on empty- It was now or never.

I gathered myself, looked at my hands and placed them on the dashboard when I had a hold on her. I closed my eyes and prepared for what was to happen next.

"I'm...so so...rry.."

I shot what felt like a ball of force energy, the ball tearing a gaping hole going completely through Aphelion's front side, severing the connection the ship herself had to the thrusters as well as destroying the engine herself.

_Aphelion_, I mouthed out as the world turned slo-mo for those few precious seconds of silent suspension.

A deafening blast completely stunned me as the ship then blew apart, sending me and debris flying northwest and falling down into the ground from a 198 ft drop. I landed with a crash, dirt and smoke flying in all directions, the noises of impact drowning my screams out.

_Then silence..._

Seconds later I found myself stepping out from the crater of my collision and into a crowd of civilians who had gathered around, looking and gawking at me and the broken remains of what was my good ship. All of them were muttering about what had happened in low whispers.

I staggered slowly, my eyes turning and focusing on what was left of Aphelion as they all began to crowd around me like flies to a light.

_Aphelion...I'm so sorry..._I thought to myself as the sudden realization of losing a friend set in. Of what I just did. _I wish it didn't have to be this way..._

I then heard a faint sing song noise- the sirens of the incoming Polaris Defense force ready to investigate the incident.

_And possibly detain me_, I reminded myself. _Their response was fast; probably alerted by Talwyn due to Clank...and I just blew up an aircraft in civilian airspace._

My hands began to burn with energy as the Defense force's hovercars with the bright blinking lights paused themselves around the area of the crash site, screeching to a halt and causing more clouds of dust to be thrown up into the air. I could see the enforcers quickly streaming out of their vehicles: some began to form a circle around me while others quickly ushered the crowd that was growing in numbers away from the scene.

The ones around me had their blasters drawn, ready to shoot.

"Ratchet, we need you to step away from the area and place your hands on the ground," a familiar female voice commanded from in back of the armed enforcers.

I snapped my gaze from the debris of ship parts and turned to where the voice I heard originated from. I could see a slender, purple Markazian making her way through them, stepping out from among the bots and organics of the Defense force.

_Who was she again...?_

I scratched my head as I remembered.

_...oh that's right...Talwyn Apogee..._

"Tal...," I called softly, both surprised and not surprised to see her. "Tal...wyn..."

She gave me a broken smile; I could see another figure threading its way through the area behind her.

It was Clank.

"Ratchet, we do not wish to hurt you," he said in a caring tone as soon as he arrived, but his face said otherwise. He had a look of shock when he saw the remains of my former Lombax ship. As he turned to face me, I waved at him and he shook his head sadly.

"-though what you did to Clank was cruel," Talwyn added, blaster drawn and pointed at me, "and then blew up a ship in civilian air space, which would land you at most 6 years. But if you could please come with us, I'm sure we could get you some he-"

I interrupted Talwyn's sentence with what seemed to me like a fit of laughter- I couldn't help it, this whole scene was too funny. I didn't expect to see Talwyn, or Clank for that matter, or be held up at gunpoint and completely feel like a villain. 6 years? Psshaaa. It was really too much.

_...Then again, I did kinda tie Clank up and then blew up Aphelion, so I had it coming._

The laughter lasted for a good minute or so; I could see the Defense force giving each other nervous looks as my continuous crazied laugh slowly decreased into small chuckles.

"Oh...okay..hehe...I'm done," I announced as I regained my composure, "but Talwyn, Clank..I have to pass on that dance. I'm not going anywhere..."

I slowly moved my fingers, feeling the rush of energy at the tips just waiting to be freed. The tips glowed with a faint blue light. I smiled.

Clank, having already had his first-hand knowledge about this newfound ability 13 minutes ago pointed it out to Talwyn. I could see their blaster barrels began to emit a bluish green glow; they were about to fire.

" ...so goodbye!"

As soon as the first shots of lasers came out of the weapons held by the enforcers, I stuck my hand out in front of me and sent out a kinetic wave to stop them. The wave pushed back some of the enforcers in the process, but I could see the lasers, now in small ball form, rotating slowly in suspension close to my space.

I heard them all gasp once they saw the phenomena happen before their eyes.

"Na-a-aaaaah..." I sang while clenching my hand.

Without even flinching, I released my grip and sent the balls of hailfire back at them, causing the circle of defensemen that were surrounding me to scatter for cover like little bugs as the lasers hit the ground with mini explosions from the inverted velocity.

The battle had finally started.

* * *

****Author's Note**

**So apparently, I have no idea what else to write, last time I checked this chapter was the last one I had written before I jumped to writing another RaC story. I might get back to this story soon, if I could only find out any ideas to add and where this is headed.**

**(comments and stuff would be greatly appreciated for a beginning author like me :) )**


	5. Anarchic Firefight

_**I waited for 3 more minutes before becoming a little annoyed at the silence.**_

_**"Hello?," I said, "is anyone in those heads of yours?"**_

_**Tal, Sasha, Clank and Quark began to talk amongst themselves in low murmurs, only bits and pieces of words being auditable for me as they ignored my presence.**_

_**"...has no..."**_

_**"Possibility..."**_

_**"...Will not..."**_

_**I stood like an idiot for 2 minutes before the annoyance turned to upset.**_

_**" Are None of you are going to answer me?" I yelled.**_

_**They all quit looking at each other and turned their attention to look at me. The feeling of being unnerved at their bottomless, solemn eyes came over me and I forced my attention to the silhouettes of themselves dancing by the wall nearby.**_

_**"Lemme guess, 'I' - meaning you guys due to being parts of my conscious- don't have a explanation whatsoever," I theorized.**_

_**"When you put it that way," Quark answered, "yea. You technically don't have a clue."**_

_**I sighed, rubbed my head and looked back to the chaos behind me, created by a mix of anxiety and craziness of everything that has happened.**_

_**It was confusing.**_

_**I didn't like confusing.**_

* * *

"Alright guys," I heard Talwyn shout sternly to the Defensemen as they regrouped beside her and Clank with their weapons at the ready. "bring him down, but do not kill him."

I could hear a chorus of "yes ma'am" ring out in unison as her order was followed: instead of their weapons potentially causing my premature death, they were now set to 'stun'.

My eyes were focused on the barrels pointed straight at me. I whistled.

_That's gonna hurt like hell..._

At Talwyn's command they began to shoot. I rolled my eyes at them and jumped backwards to avoid the incoming fire. I admit it was supposed to be a clear cut jump to safety from the barrage, but I ended up smacking my back towards a wall and just barely managed to withstand the few little shots of stun slugs that hit my fur and emitted their electric payload.

I started to see black as I ran away from the scene.

_Why are you running?,_ my head questioned. _This is a dream, remember? You can change their battle_ tactics!

I bit my lip. _But__I don't want to get hit by those weapons...they HURT._

_But it's a dream,_ my head assured.

_...didnt seem like it._ Even though it was a dream I felt the terror of having to run away from being killed. Like in real life, I was genuinely scared how this was turning out to be.

A loud engine noise was heard over the distance, catching my interest. Looking up, I noticed the grid traffic above us. Noticed the multitudes of hovercars passing by ever so quickly on those sections. By the hordes.

I smiled.

_I remember Clank saying something about velocity and impact...and these ships could cause some major damage if their velocity was high enough for a mid scale explosion..._

_...and if those ships were directed towards a target._

There must have been a lag time between me and my thoughts, since my left leg was hit with another slug. I gritted my teeth as I felt the electricity ride up my muscles and nerves, causing me to nearly fall over. It was a perfect hit though- must have come from either Talwyn or Clank, mostly betting on Talwyn. But I kept on moving.

There were 2 things that were keeping me running: staying alive, and having fun while at it. In order for the first one to be done, I needed to get close to those ships.

I grabbed onto a railing hanging from a light filled building and hoisted myself up. Several blaster slugs chased after me, one nearly hitting my tail. I scooted over towards wall of another connected building and paused to regain my breath.

_In and out...in and out, heart beating ever so quickly..._

Below me, there was several shouts about me being on the roofs, and I could hear a Polaris defenseman radio for backup.

_Requesting for more personnel in hoverships that I could make out in the distance._

"Shit..."

My head snapped to focus on the railings. I could hear those tell tale sounds of light feet beginning to hoist themselves over.

"Ratchet-" Talwyn called out to me as soon as her head and arm popped into view, but as soon as she got half her body over with one hand I pushed her back before she could make it all the way through.

I heard a small thud of a body making impact on the ground. But I'm pretty sure it didn't kill her.

They were now beginning to make their way towards me, coming from the open door on the roof. So As quickly as I could, I made my way over towards the secondary building connecting over and scampered to my feet as another slug hit my left leg yet again, but lower than the last bit.

_Damn that__hurtsss_...I growled._But at least I managed to get close enough to the traffic._

"Ratchet," I heard a robotic voice call out to me. It was Clank.

I turned to face him. He looked at me with those solemn eyes that a small friendly robotic pal could make while holding a blaster pistol in my direction, trembling. It made my heart ache when I saw him like that. Terrified, worried, confused.

Not that I wasn't feeling the same _way_, but with total excitement spilling over.

"Please do not do this to yourself. Come down from there," he said.

I looked away for a while, at the passing traffic above. I then looked below me: The gathering of the Defense masses. The 6-7 hovercars with the personnel holding their weapons. The audience: civilians and reporters who caught wind of the galaxy's hero gone crazy. They were everywhere, hushed, snapping photos and recording with those flying cameras of annoyance.

_What a show_.

I began to step down. Doing so, I took a moment to look at Talwyn and Clank with their faces of relief growing and savor the feeling of righteousness before my hand shot up and telekinetically diverted 2 random hover cars at the fray, one going to the roof of the first building, and one going towards the 6-7 hovercars in the sky. I disabled any controls the cars would have so that they remained on target without chances of flying away.

I then felt as if the whole world suddenly shifted into slo-mo:

The screams from inside those cars as they shot past me sounded so vivid and lifelike that it unnerved me to the core for a second...Each shot fired by the Defense force in their attempts to immobilize me flew by slowly I could almost grab one off the air...the faces of everyone as the cars slowly made their way decent...

_It felt real._

The impact from the first car to the roof sent everything quickly back to fast paced normality. I was tossed to the side by the explosion before the second one, possibly due to shrapnel hitting the second ship square on one of the cells the model had, left me temporarily deaf and dazed. But I didn't need to hear what chaos I had caused by my actions.

I could see it as if it were fireworks.

Shrapnel, fuel coils, ship parts, robotic arms and heads flying everywhere. Searing white and orange heat from the fire, the dust filling the air and gently being placed onto the ground, the glass from nearby glow lamps filling the now empty streets of the Luminopolis central city. The remnants of the Defense force on the ground was no more. The ones flying either backed off or were knocked out of service. There were several civilians limping away. The reporters did the opposite: They clambered back into the explosion zone to get their chances to report the breaking news of a century and that's when I realized how much I hated the publicity generated.

I was the star of my own made up movie.

As the cameras began to role and the streams went to every home and building of every populated world, I stepped out from my place on the secondary roof and clenched my hands into fists.

_If they want publicity, they'll get it._

I smiled.

* * *

*******Author's note: **

**I got a review :3 Thank you to Crescent Moon for commenting on my story... it made my day since these were just drabbles of something that went in my head while listening to music. For that, it motivated me to look over my 5th chapter from my flashdrive and work on it. so here it is, the 5th chapter, all typed and posted.**

**Lets see if I get started on a 6th. As usual, any favs or comments are appreciated so I can get to know where my weak points are and how to improve. Im also open to any ideas.**


	6. Decimation Complication

_**They went to muttering back amongst themselves. I didn't need to turn around to see that; they were talking too loud that it's probably not even to be called muttering at all. Why they wouldn't stop talking -or in that sense, talk lower than how they are now- was questionable and annoying. I couldn't control them-in a sense, they were hard to tamper with here.**_

_**Just as if they were real.**_

_**Subconsciously controlled, I thought silently. Yes. But I couldn't really mess with it, unless I go even further...**_

_**"Death." I heard one of them -Quark- say in an alarmed tone.**_

_**I turned around to face him and again was rewarded with the scene of their eyes deadlocked on me.**_

_**It was still unnerving.**_

_**"Could you guys stop looking at me like that?" I huffed, "it's creeping me the fuck out."**_

_**"Language!," Clank said harshly, and I resisted the urge to pull a face. Instead, I told him that it doesn't even matter since he wasn't real, which got him to be quiet and shake his head sadly.**_

_**It still killed me when he was sad.**_

_**Another building collapsed in the distance as Talwyn got up from her place on a floating rock. How that was possible I stopped questioning a while ago.**_

_**"Can I tell you something?" She asked.**_

_**I nodded, clutching the tattered cloak tightly around me and looked up at the dust covered sky. It was getting chiller, I noted.**_

_**"If you continue further on with this charade, you're going to die."**_

_**My heart skipped a beat, my ears perked. I turned to face her.**_

_**"Wha-?"**_

_**But she wasn't there.**_

* * *

I could see those small little floating cameras pointed at me as I emerged from the second building's roof and jumped down. I was semi blinded by the flash of snapshots taken, of the reporters rambling on about today's events and some groans coming from the destroyed area as I descended. _Still alive, some are_, I sighed as I landed with a thud on my feet on the only solid piece of ground.

The cameras flew higher, the reporters moved back and hushed. I decided to go along with my dream.

"You know," I said to them with a blank look. I looked up at one of the floating devices nearby, gave a forced smile for the public and pushed it back when it came too close. "I used to love being known...but I guess that was when I was much more immature years ago. It sucks now."

Everyone nearby remained quiet. I could hear some noises in the rubble. I paid it no mind as I eyed the civilians.

"I-is...is this the birth...o-of a..." a robotic reporter with his metallic mic stammered out. I looked at him.

"A life of _villainy_?" I finished, raising an eyebrow.

The reporter nodded in fear and I kicked a piece of rubble away towards his direction. He yelped and scampered back.

"Naw, this is just me out to enjoy my dream before I wake up..." I looked at my gloved hands as I said this. A small spark flickered from each of the tips of my fingers and I moved them around. "...or my pal Clank does, whichever happens to come first."

Behind me, I could make out more sirens ringing out in the distance. The noises coming from the rubble were louder- some of the Polaris Defense force were alive and were digging themselves out.

I waited, and as I stood there I heard something about backup from other planets coming, of a possible high caliber containment center to place me in once apprehended; of how big of a scandal this case would be.

The hoverships were in view.

I raised my hands at the ready and smiled. The reinforcements for this planet had arrived, and as they ran with their blasters drawn and whatever kind of weaponry they had available to subdue and detain, I heard a very irritating noise call out to me from above the crowd. I could see a big green lumbering man making his way over and I did a double take before sighing.

"Oh, the woes of a hero who has taken the daring leap into the dark side of villainy. But do not worry, for I, Captain-"

"Oh, _shoot_ me with a handgun and drown me in _water_," I groaned out loud. "Stop _talking_."

I sent a chunk of broken roof towards the guy and the backup. They jumped off to the side and answered with shots that were dodged with a little difficulty and held in suspension, ready to be returned.

Captain Quark came out from behind a defenseman who had his mouth open like if it was a gaping hole.

"That was rude," he cried, terrified. "I nearly _died_!"

I gave him a look. "Nooo, really? You don't need to make your presence known, your size is enough.." I sniffed the air and nearly upchucked. I stepped back in disgust, letting the suspended shots fall at my feet in order to wave the air away from my nose. "And your stench smells worse than old cheese...what the _h-e- double candy cane_ did you step into!? _Crap_?"

Quark sniffed himself. "I don't smell that bad, do I?" He asked the people behind him. The defensemen looked at each other, some who weren't bots looked in disgust, the robotic defensemen and 3 robotic reporters shrugged, and a organic lady fainted somewhere off in the distance.

"Apparently you smell like my last attempt on a gourmet meal," I said, "and don't ask how that turned out. The stuff would have wiped out an entire civilization, as Clank and Tal said."

"Well...uh...apparently double candy canes make a '_J_'", Quark replied smartly.

I telekinetically whipped out the fallen stun ammo off the floor and held them up at their direction.

"No they don't; they make an _L_."

With a flick of my finger, the hail of slugs shot out from their place in front of me and began to rain towards the group of people. Upon seeing their own bullets fly they began to shoot off for dear life.

Now, to give credit to the fine uniformed folks of the Polaris Galaxy -since I worked with the Galactic Rangers at a point- they did try to take a brave stand.

If bravery meant _desertion_. Then they were full of it.

Some of the ones who actually stayed behind to fight did give it their all, but in the end they were hit. The rest ran off. And let's just say...the ones who ran off were the smart ones- Quark included. For what happened next was collateral.

Dodging incoming fire from all sides by the braves, I began to throw countless items as ammo- pieces of ships, parts from robots and buildings, pieces of glass from anywhere around me- without taking a break. One big chunk of glass hit 3 organics by the chest, clear cut through, I saw, and they were no more. Some chunks of debris managed to whittle down the unfriendly fire, hitting synthetic and organic arms and legs, and even everything at once with a sight so gruesome I rolled my eyes and focused on something else.

But I didn't even flinch at how bloody that was- it was fun.

Other pieces hit vital train lines near the area- evidence clearly heard as loud whistles rang off in distress, followed by a sound of derailment and explosions that rocked nearby metallic buildings, causing their collapses, and shattered walkways and cut off the flow of up air traffic. There were even some minor explosions that resulted in fires.

I made a run from the scene as the buildings where I had thrown my arsenal of broken pieces began to cause the air to fill with ashes and whatever else irritated my lungs, and headed for open skies.

I admit that hearing all that would have made me nearly black out, especially if it was done in real life. I wouldn't have lived it down to see a innocent person hurt.

_But this is was dream, nothing more. They are just figments and fragments of your life. Their fake lives do not matter_, my head said.

_Yea.._

"Huh, this much damage just by throwing things, my my I'm impressed. No wonder people like Nefarious liked mayhem," I said with a cheery smile as I observed the damage. "But...I've would've went for my bomb gloves and omniwrench to cause this much chaos. But this works, I guess. It was..._liberating_."

_Liberating you say...But in real life..._

I paused. My tail, which had been moving side to side with excitement stop and hung.

_Would I dare try this in real life? To cause this much pain and chaos...for fun?_

_Maybe..._

_I wouldnt-_

_This is a dream and nothing more, so relax! Plus it's a great way to reduce stress,_ the voice in my head coaxed me to calm down. I could feel my heart, which had been beating fast, begin to return to normal pace.

"I guess so..."

So I smiled and continued on. Not one person was spared as I made my rounds of destruction on the fake city of Luminopolis, bringing down the rain of fire. Terrorizing the survivors with flying debris and carcasses, empty shells of those who would have been.

Anything that was just _there_, basically.

It was when I was just about to tear down a building in glee that I got hit with 3 rounds of pure electric fire.

* * *

*******Authors note:**

**I got another review! thank you Vengarl22 and also ty Crescent Moon (again) for responding! Im so happy to see another person who liked it ^^...I do agree evil Ratchet is interesting. Am I making him too evil...too OOC maybe?**

**I dunno, but this motivates me to write more! so here it is, chapter 6! As usual, please Read and Review, and maybe leave a like for this story if you want to see more? It really motivates me to write more to impress and improve! Chapter 7 will be next (Lets hope I get time to type and post since Im a comic artist...a rising one ^^)**

**Also, Ratchet and Clank doesnt belong to me...though I wish they did. But they are from Insomniac.**

**ty :)**


	7. Broken, Oblivious, False Sanctuary, Lies

_**I stood there, blinking at nothing in front of me for what seemed like forever before the realization hit me.**_

_**"Tal?" I breathed out in shock. "Talwyn? Where did you go..?"**_

_**I received no reply back. Feeling the sudden bewilderment of her disappearance, I looked around the area to find her. No luck, she was gone-and for that matter, Quark, Sasha and Clank were gone, too.**_

_**"Guys...?" My voice carried through the wind and as an echo.**_

_**Where did everyone go?**_

_**I found myself alone on the roof of our Luminopolis home. Alone with the wind blowing softly on my tattered cloak; as if the conversation that happened before was nothing but a mere dream.**_

_**No!**_

_**The confusion and anxiety caused by this began to slowly rise inside of me. I breathed in and out, holding my head and trying hard not let loose. My stomach turned like little butterflies were inside and my heartbeat quickened. I felt sick.**_

_**"He-yoooo?" I croaked out, with small little tears beginning to form under my eyes. "Guys...? Guys, where are you...-"**_

_**I turned around find myself staring into the eyes of another Lombax.**_

**_Me._**

_**"How...?" I stepped back, taken by surprise. "Me-"**_

_**My replica gave me a cocky smile before using his hands to mentally push me off the building. I screamed bloody murder; fell into what felt like quicksand that instantly began engulfing my body. I began to flail my arms in panic - I was sinking so fast that I began to feel the light headedness that one would feel in real life as my body became heavier and heavier, and the air became thicker and thicker and harder to breathe.**_

_**I was scared.**_

_**Talwyn looked at me from her place beside me in the sand. They all did.**_

_**"Do you want to know what is happening?" They all asked me in an unnervingly calm tone.**_

_**I nodded while flailing my arms.**_

_**"Well, Ratchet. We all do, too."**_

_**I began to see black and nothing more.**_

* * *

I screamed. My body didn't seem to heed my commands to save myself as I fell down onto the ground. It hurt, the amount of shock created by the sudden pain of currents going everywhere all at the same time paralyzed me completely.

The landing was hard.

There was silence afterwards- not counting the small crackles of flame from different parts of the city echoing all around me. But it was silent enough that I could hear myself breathing heavily. I hadn't passed out yet, which was a surprise. I titled my head towards the origin of the shots and smiled warmly.

"Hello, Sasha."

Sasha looked down at my crumpled figure. She held her blaster casually on her shoulder as she looked at me with a stone cold look.

"Hello, Ratchet," she said.

_Just the crackle of flames and small echoes of collapses..._

I don't know how long we stayed there, looking at each other with eyes of an intense moment happening between us, locked into eternity.

A villain to a hero.

It was long enough for me to feel annoyed and recuperate from her blows.

"Heh..."

As I got up from the ground, grunting in pain, she shot another few rounds at me. I moved away and immediately suspended them in the air, causing her to gasp in surprise.

"You know, you're like the umpteenth person to react like that," I remarked as I brushed away the dust from my clothes with my free hand. "It's actually funny."

Sasha glared at me and readied her blaster. "Are you going to come peacefully?"

_Crackle..._

I raised an eyebrow. "Go where now, dear Sasha?"

Silence. She didn't seem fazed by my reply.

"Where do you think?"

We both looked at each other before I sighed.

"Can't we just have a normal conversation? I don't want this to hit the climax already."

_Silence._

"Well, this has gone on for long enough," a robotic voice behind Sasha said.

My tail swished slightly. I smiled as Clank, Talwyn and Quark, who I haven't seen since a while ago walked right next to Sasha and stood beside her. Despite the amount of hurting they took from the chaos I caused and inflicted on them, they seemed unaware of anything about it. _Huh._

They all didn't look too happy to see me. But I was.

"No 'hello Ratchet' from my compadres?" I asked as I moved the sparkling pieces of suspended ammo around in the air.

I was greeted with silence.

_Sigh..._

"Well then. Be like that...but I do have to agree, this has gone long enough, buddy ol' pal," I said, cheerfully shaking off their failure to greet me. " maybe we should end it now?"

I paced around in circles, thinking hard about what to say while moving the projectiles ever so slightly close to them so that knew who they were dealing with. My eyes shone like reflecting mirrors as they backed up a little, a terrified expression showing out in bits and pieces the more I kept it up.

"But how? Que sera, sera..."

_What..._

I paused and turned to them, with my tail swishing rapidly in excitement.

"Oh, I know! Let's all just all hang out, huh? I'll change the dream to suit the new scene, and we can-"

"Ratchet, _ENOUGH_."

I stopped talking; I coughed and wheezed. I couldn't breathe nor move, and I dropped the electric slugs on the ground. My head was spinning from the lack of oxygen as the person who held me -Talwyn- looked over to the others and back at me, with eyes full of determination and anger.

Opposite _my_ reaction.

"But...how..."

"Ratchet, I'm sorry. But this has gone on for long enough, and if you're going to keep this up, then we'll have to send you off by force," Talwyn exclaimed between gritted teeth as she and the rest of the group readied their aim. "Do you want that?"

She looked terrified of what she was saying, her voice shaky and cracked. My eyes welled up slightly, and I feebly looked down at my hands. They were shaking, too.

_Do I want that?_ I thought as I struggled to keep my eyes open.

_Do I..._

"Ratchet," Clank insisted, "please come to your senses. We do not wish to hurt you..."

_Crackle...crumble, echoes of flame..._

"My senses... you say..."

I gripped my hands tight. They stopped shaking and I smiled in lunacy.

_"Bite... me..."_

"Very well."

The last thing I remember was being yanked all the way up off the ground, before being slammed into mounds of debris and feeling the searing heat of flames that touched parts of my hands, burning my fur.

_It hurt._

I was in a hole of her making, coughing and rubbing my arms while letting out muffled cries of agony from the pain.

_How..did she...?_

I stopped breathing.

_Interesting, huh? Maybe now things will be more...exciting, Ratchet?_

"In...interesting..."

I snapped out of my haze fast enough to note and avoid several rounds of blaster fire shot towards me by both Clank and Sasha. I rolled and skidded off to the side of the crater, finding myself leaning on the side and huffing.

My leg hurted.

Looking down I saw a small, but growing, stain of blood seeping from the broken slit of my blue pants. _Mine_.

I winced and bit my lip.

_This isn't a stun shot...this is now bordering actual death..._

"I'll ask again now. Are you willing to keep fighting us? Or are you ready to stop this madness and come peacefully?" Sasha asked.

I smirked. It was false brevity.

"Don't play with us if you don't want to get hurt," Talwyn added from above me. I looked up to see her and Quark (surprisingly) peering down with smiles in their faces, as if they were intimidating me to do something.

_Come at me, bro._ they mentally shouted.

_Sigh.._

I sent off whatever pieces of debris that lay around me: arms, glass, metal beams and parts of ships. Anything to take them down as they responded with a hail of bullets that never ceased to end.

_Tch! Aren't they ever going to stop and reload..?_

It didn't seem so. But I was slightly peeved when they continued on, and I had to scamper off to avoid getting hit. But it wasn't easy due to the pain in my leg.

Suddenly, a huge piece of a building rubble fell dead near me, raising the amount of dust and smoke up into the air and lowering the visibility that I had down to around 32%. I screamed, startled by the closeness of death and how loud the crash had been to almost leave me deaf. I then began to cough violently as a large amount of dust was inhaled and now being forced out from my lungs. In response I ran to find a break in the wind for a clean breath of air.

Behind me, I could hear the small clink of metal feet running towards my direction. I peeked back as I jumped over a few broken vendor posts and could make out a silhouette of a familiar face .

_Clank._

I then felt a blow hitting me right side of my face, as another figure appear next to Clank, bigger and taller.

_Quark, Damn that dude has balls..._

The blow sent me stumbling back and falling over the sidewalk, and I fell onto another lower platform. I groaned, but didn't have enough time to recover as another barrage of blasts had me jumping around and deflecting them back to their senders, Talwyn and Sasha.

"Heh...," I smiled shaky as I leapt away from another slam of fists on the ground. "...this is-"

I felt the cutoff of air and was slammed into what was left of a financial building of Luminopolis.

Everything remained silent, and I had no idea whether it was because I had hit my head harder than usual or they didn't know where exactly I had landed. But for a strange reason, I welcomed the silence, and gathered my strength and got up.

I could feel they were waiting for me.

_Well, that's one logic out of the way,_ I thought as I stepped through the pieces of inside interior building and sighed.

The wind blew, and I felt it grow colder than what I had remembered it to be.

Shivering, I spotted a tattered wind breaker. I walked over and bent down, prying it away from the person who was holding on to it from beyond and tied the strings it had around my neck. I smiled. It felt like a cloak, nice and warm.

_That feels better..._

I noted their presence .

"Well, I don't know how you're able to do that, Talwyn," I rubbed my bleeding leg tenderly as I faced them, "but it's annoying me. This is _my_ dream, and I won't be taken down by someone so easily. Especially if they end up being my friends."

Quark frowned. "You'd actually kill one of us if this were real?"

"Didn't say that."

"Yes, you implied."

I frowned. "This is a dream, and nothing more. You are all just _figments_ and _fragments_ of my real life. Your fake lives do not matter to me. Does that answer your question?"

They stayed quiet. Talwyn looked at me and shook her head solemnly.

"You keep on believing that, and you're going to descend so low that we won't be able to save you."

I scoffed. "Save me from what? Boredom?"

There was only silence. I could hear flames and the wind blowing softly.

"That's what you need to figure out, Ratchet. Like you said, we are just figments and fragments, right?"

I couldn't breathe.

* * *

*********Author's Note:**

**Well, here's the 7th chapter. This was actually fun to write (I have been reading some Star wars stuff) and things just motivated me to continue on. But it looks like we are starting to reach the final chapters, and I thank the 2 people who commented again for showing interest in this story.**

** Crescent Moon: The bold words at the beginning of the story...you'll find out what it is when the next chapter comes out. And yes, he does seems to have hints of paranoia...XD**

** Vengurl22 : Thank you, it means so much when people like it. :)**

**and to the random person caled "Meta-Lombax": I dont think he cooks... but it would be funny if he did. I can imagine how badly that would turn out.**

**Ty, and the characters do not belong to me- Insomniac**

**Chapter 8 will be released soon... hopefully.**


	8. Obsidian Mind

_**the flames...**_

_**...the chaos...**_

_**the despair...**_

_**I can see it all...**_

_**...What would have been...**_

_**I smiled...and we fought...**_

_**No...how...!.**_

_**'Ratchet, do don't have to do this..."**_

_**...have...to...**_

_**Laughter...more fights...**_

_**"You like...?"**_

_**"No.."**_

_**Why do I need to stop...?**_

_**Stop...**_

_**...Stop...**_

_**...STOP...!**_

_**Why...**_

_**...Me...**_

_**My eyes nearly popped out of my head; I gripped my ears tightly and screamed as loud as I could to be heard over the voices.**_

_**"Aaaaaaauuuughh...aaaaaaahh.!"**_

_**They stopped. My voice tuned into a whine and slowly faded. Then, silence reigned.**_

_**Complete silence...**_

**I don't know what happened.**

**-Present time-**

_What happened..._

The last thing that came into my mind was Talwyn's face looking at me with sadness before I snapped out of my unwanted daze. I felt hot, and water- tears began streaming down on my cheeks. I began to go nuts as my head tried to rationalize everything, the feeling as if I was drowned in water and was resuscitated. My mind was on alert, looking back and forth and feeling nervous.

I calmed down when I realized where I was.

_...If it made any sense, that is._

I realized that I couldn't breath...but I don't think it bothered me now like it had...

I couldn't see either...there was nothing to look at, anyways...

All I could hear was my breathing, and heart beating so hard I felt it would burst. The rush of anxiety overwhelmed me and I fainted.

_It never felt that way, though._

When I came to, everything was still black and I didn't know how long I was inside this dark world of nothingness after I was swallowed whole by the ground. I didn't like it.

_I couldn't stand it.._.

Being here without moving, I didn't know if I was falling or if my eyes were closed or open. It was difficult to tell since there was no wind. I felt myself tearing apart as I struggled to make sense of everything.

_I can't..._

It was just a never-ending scene of black, black, black. But I did feel the place become colder as I reflected on the earlier events that had transpired. I shivered and struggled to keep warm. I guess that was the only thing that kept me sane and was negative at the same time.

_It was everywhere...it was endless..._

_It was mine..._

"Why...Am I here...?" I stammered out with a hoarse throat.

No one replied back to me and that's when I realized that I've never felt so alone in my life, other than the times that I spent living on Veldin without Clank. Being without the people I cared like a family, this left me hurting for the way I battled them in my dream. There's wasn't a need for violence, maybe it should have been better handled. We could have been happy.

_But it was my dream..._

_Why...?_

I began to feel a lump in my throat grow and I couldn't force it down.

"H...help...me..."

I heard sobs; they were mine. They grew louder, I couldn't hold onto what facade of bravery that I kept as a shield throughout this whole ordeal together and I broke down. My tears streamed out like rivers as I tried to curl up into a ball. My Sanctuary. Anything to feel safe, to release the frustration and anger that I was feeling, the confusion of everything that I had gone through.

_Is this dream a nightmare?_

There were whispers.

_Was this actually real?_

My whispers.

_Why-_

"Still questioning everything, huh?"

I spun my head to face whoever broke the silence. In front of me stood my replica, the me who only minutes...hours ago...threw me down here. Staring at me with a blank face and cold bottomless eyes.

They were not my eyes.

I gathered myself. "Why wouldn't one be?," I answered, wiping the tears from my face. I then paused, as my voice echoed and I was surprised. "Especially one who has gone through this...this type of crazy?"

He looked at me and chuckled. "Says the Lombax who actually _enjoyed_ it when it lasted."

I glared at him.

My replica shrugged and smiled. He began to reposition himself into sitting down on nothing, as if he floated. Throughout it all I remained silent; the feeling of eerie dread beginning to fill the area and making me feel uncomfortable to the bone.

We stared at each other for what seemed like forever.

"What is this?" I asked after a while.

_Hmm._ I watched him drum his fingers on nothing.

"What do you think it is?" He asked.

I frowned, became slightly agitated, and folded my hands. "If I knew I wouldn't be asking. You should be answering!" My voice raised louder.

"But I'm _you_. I don't know either."

I growled silently and turned away.

_Silence..._

There was only silence after this for 3-4 minutes. No one did anything, no one said anything, and I was starting to wonder whether I was going to wake up soon if this was happening.

It was_ boring_.

"So...how did you enjoy the day?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're not going to wake up anytime soon, Ratchet. I know what you're thinking and it's stupid. I just thought I should ask how your day was, before we become enemies."

My blood froze as soon as he said that. I felt my heart skip a beat. I was horrified; the Lombax shifted happily to a more comfortable position before waving to me when he caught my gaze. It was childlike.

_It was disgusting._

I wasn't happy. I kept my eyes focused on this replica of mine, who had spoken so nonchalantly as if it was just a normal thing. Like if I didn't care that I wasn't going to wake up soon and instead would be happy to chat, to let him know how everything was.

_As if he knew.._

"What...do you mean, I won't wake up?" I asked. "This is a dream, and nothing more. I'm going to wake up...it's just a matter of time-"

"Going to wake UP!?" he shouted in glee.

I stopped. "Yes."

"_Wake UP!_!?" My replica repeated once more before leaning his head back and laughing like a crazy, deranged psychiatric patient. "You're funny, Ratchet! Wake up, hahaha...really now..."

"That's not funny-!" I shouted, unnerved and angered feelings balled into one.

"Yes YES_ IT IS!_"

I watched as he continued with his deranged laughter that echoed throughout the dark. I covered my ears to silence the noises, to calm my rising anger down before I end up seriously punching him -_me, ironically_\- in the face. Luckily for him, before that point was reached, he snapped his head back to me and stayed quiet. His demeanor changed to one of cold and seriousness.

"You really believe you'll wake up now?" He said calmly.

There was a shine in his eyes. I didn't know what he was hiding. All I did was silently nod with hesitation in where he was going with all this.

"Well then, dear Ratchet," he said, leaning close to me. "What if I said you'll never wake up soon?"

I froze.

He smiled at my reaction; savoring my slowly increasing fright.

"Come now. What will do you? How will you react?"

My mouth hung, and I couldn't find any words to say. I could see my sudden loss of words entertained him.

_He's joking...he's playing with me...I should have never watched those holo films yesterday..._

"I can hear you think. I'm not."

After a minute or so of silence the replica sighed and rubbed his temples. "I think... I think it's time we had a little talk about this. Isn't that right, guys?"

With a snap of his finger we found ourselves inside a tower-like room: old, filled with desert dust and rust on several pieces of old machinery strewn around. Its splendor was still there, only less appealing. Decay had taken over. Instantly I knew where we were, and I looked down at the ground to fight and forget the sudden memories this place started to have on me.

_Fastoon. The Court of Azimuth._

I held back a tear.

"Nice place, huh?"

I looked up at him. Found him sitting comfortably next to Talwyn, Clank, Quark and Sasha, who were also seated in a circle in what seemed like glass-mirror seats that reflected the natural light that somehow found its way inside. I found myself in the middle of it all.

It seemed though as if I was in court.

"You had to take me here," I said with a frown as I sat on a small glass chair offered to me. One that materialized next to me by my replica.

"But I like this place." He grinned at me. "Don't _you_, me?"

_Sigh._

"...not really."

There was silence for a while as I watched their eyes on me. It was creepy how they kept their gazes without breaking eye contact. I could feel it drilling a hole in my head. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

I hated being left out in the dark.

"Are you going to explain to me what the hell's happening? This dream's becoming weirder and weird-"

A loud slam of a fist making contact with a hard surface stopped me from talking, cutting me off. I shut my mouth. The replica leaned back onto his seat and sighed when he had my attention.

"Here's the blunt truth since you want to know so badly. Talwyn, dear."

I readied myself for whatever she was about to say.

To be honest, I was expecting a funny ditty, or a made up story about being under a fake hypnosis and that'd I'd need to escape and do action-y stuff to break out, ending with a good story to tell everyone when I woke up. Something..._.believable_.

But what she said next in a cold tone left me speechless.

"You are dying, Ratchet...," Talwyn fiddled with her thumbs, "and there's nothing you can do about it."

* * *

**********Author's Note:**

**So, this is getting serious...seriously messed up. I actually don't know whats wrong with me. It is confusing, in a sense and thats how it needs to be (I might add a paragraph at the end of this story explaining) but we can start to see Ratchet now...realizing things.**

**Again I thank the 2 people who are interested in this story, it makes me feel happy that there are some people who do read this. I also know there are others who pass by, maybe read a little and then leave. I would actually like to say that if they think its weird, or just not...RaC like, then leave a comment. As a guest or something. Any criticism is welcome (though it is off the normal genre of the games, and I do intend on it being like that for a while) Don't be shy I do know when someone hits this page or chapter up, I can see that.**

**So, here's chapter 8, and we are nearing the end of the story. Just 1 more chapter to go, and a small epilogue right after. Once again, I thank you guys for taking time to read my story, and I hope to write more for this series later (thanks to the movie coming up, Im sure there will be a surge in stories again.)**

**Characters do not belong to me, though if they did I would have done a manga on them years ago. -Insomniac**

**ty :) and look forward to chapter 9 in the works, which will be posted either on Monday, or Tuesday 4/14**


	9. Unravel

For a second I thought everything was a joke.

I laughed.

I shook my head.

I even congratulated myself for making this get better and better. But sadly, no one else was laughing. Instead, all I received was serious looks on everyone's faces.

"What's so funny, Ratchet?" Talwyn asked testily. "You don't think any of this is real?"

"Nope." I stood up from my seat and let out a sigh. "This is a dream, remember?"

Clank, Sasha and Quark looked at each other and back at me with solemn eyes. Talwyn's face changed to one of sadness, crestfallen that her words didn't make much of an impact and covered her face. I could hear her crying.

_it hurt to see her cry..._

"How about I tell you a story, Ratchet?" My replica announced with a flair. I turned my head to faced him. "A story about what is happening, and what will happen...A story about you."

I found myself sitting back in my seat. _This had better be good._.

"Once, there was a Lombax named Ratchet. Ratchet spent his days working as a mechanic in his planet world of Veldin, only dreaming about what lie beyond the universe he called home -that is, until he met Clank, his 'golden ticket' out from his boredom. From that moment on, everything changed, there was lots of adventures for the two; cue epic battle scenes, life and death scenarios, and praise."

I rolled my eyes. "Tell me something about myself I don't already _know_."

Sigh. "Very well... Now, throughout the years, Ratchet and Clank became well known, dubbed the 'Galaxy's heroes' by every civilian they came in contact with. Everyone remarked about their strengths, their willpower to survive anything and everything that came in their way...even to go as far as stating that the dynamic duo were 'immortal'."

I closed my eyes and sighed.

"Ratchet himself believed that, oh yes he did." The replica stretched himself. "Why wouldn't he? Having been put into harms way so many times, you had luck on your side throughout your journey. Nothing could ever go wrong, and there was nothing to_ fear._"

_Yawn..._ I was starting to find this all boring, so I focused on a small piece of lint on my shirt. He must have seen my look to give me a big, creepy grin from ear to ear.

"But everything _eventually_ must come to an end, I'm afraid...and for the Lombax called Ratchet..."

His voice trailed off abruptly that I looked up to find out why- and found myself peering into the eyes of my replica, his face so terrifyingly close to mine that I could feel him breathing on me.

_"...it meant DEATH!"_

It happened so fast; So sudden had he screamed the last part of the sentence did I find myself thrown far across the room and creating a small hole straight into a wall by something metal-like slammed right into my stomach.

I squinted to see what it was. _My omniwrench._

The dust settled before he spoke again.

"No one would have expected it, yes? For years you were unstoppable," he went on, spinning and playing with my weapon for fun, "no villain could stop you. It was impossible -until a mysterious virus broke out in the city of Metropolis...A contagion unnoticeable that when it was finally discovered, it had already done its payload to those of flesh and bone."

I struggled to open my eyes...to get up. My whole body hurt badly. Every time I moved there would be small shots and jolts of pain from all over, overactive nerves in my body screaming for me to remain on the ground. But as much as I wanted to stay down, I ignored them -_I had to get up_.

The Lombax smiled as I stumbled out of the rubble. "I told you we're going to be enemies. I don't regret doing that."

I scoffed. "You hit like a girl."

"Likewise."

I jumped out of the way as soon as he came into close quarters and slammed the wrench where I once stood. I skidded off to a stop; having an opening, I tackled him down, only to find myself pinned by my hands and his face close to mine with that eerie smile still glued.

"Unfortunately, for Ratchet," he whispered softly in my ear as I struggled to break free, "he came down with this strange virus, and was placed in isolation, fighting for his_ life_."

He began to squish me. I started to feel all the air being pushed out and I began to feel sick.

"That's...not true..." I hissed, "you're... lying. Everything here isn't real...You and this whole thing must... just be... ideas and scenes from ...whatever I had watched yesterday..."

"You don't say? Well unfortunately, I'm sorry to have to tell you that...this is it. _The end of the line for you_."

I felt a blow on my back and I stopped moving. The pressure in my back was released as he let my hands go and got up, stepping back near his place with the others as I kept my head on the cold hard ground and moaned. As much as I didn't want to believe him and felt he was just spewing lies, I found myself stunned, mortified and in complete shock all in one.

Denial

_You're dying, Ratchet, and there's nothing you can do about it..._

It wasn't true...

_...dying...nothing you can about it..._

It can't be true...I'm not...dying...

_Unfortunately...he came down with this strange virus...and was placed in isolation..._

...dying...?

._..fighting for his life..._

"I...I don't...I...don't..." I couldn't talk properly; I stammered, couldn't think anymore. I kept repeating the only two words that made it through my tangled confusion. I don't. _I don't_.

"...Understand?"

Talwyn nodded her head sadly when I looked up from my realization. They all did -minus my replica, who showed no remorse and instead focused on his gloved hands as he spoke. "Little by little, you're going farther and farther away from what's real."

"You lie..."

He continued to watch me from the corner of his eyes as I continued to writhe in agony.

_Silence._

"Do you know who I _am_, Ratchet?"

I ignored him, only focusing on trying to block out the pain signals and get up again.

"Come on...don't you want to know," he pouted as I continued to ignore him and his words. _His lies_.

_Don't listen..._

My face jerked up; he grabbed my cheeks and again I was made to stare at his eyes.

"If you're just going to ignore, then why don't I explain them first? Maybe that will spark your interest."

He made my head to look at the others; watched as the omniwrench in his hands changed into the Praetorian wrench that I hadn't wanted to touch since the last time I used it. Pointed the weapon on each of their blank faces while looking at me.

"These people you see here," the Lombax pointed out, "are supposed to be parts of _you._ Each one signifies a specific trait... and some memories. Let's start with her, huh? Talwyn Apogee. Don't you agree?"

He made me nod.

"Tal is your friend, that we know...maybe even _girlfriend_. But In here however, Talwyn signifies that side of you that loves and cares about people. Knows how to be loved, and to show? Let's see what she has to hide, no? Goodbye, Miss Apogee."

He fired a blast from the wrench, and I watched her scream before disappearing in front of my eyes.

_Talwyn..._

* * *

_**'Ratchet,' she said to me as I continued to finish up on repairing Aphelion's start module, 'aren't you worried?'**_

_**A pause. 'About?'**_

_**Talwyn walked over from her place standing in the doorway to the garage and to where I was. I could hear her move some stuff around and made herself comfortable on the makeshift chairs.**_

_**'About what the news people are saying.'**_

_**I peeked from above the ship. 'What are they saying?'**_

_**She looked at me semi annoyed and sighed. 'Ratchet! It's been reported on every channel for 2 weeks! '**_

_**'Well...I haven't been paying much attention, you know,' I answered back while holding a few wires, trying to figure out which one I had recently changed, 'I've been kinda busy fixing things and saving people, and that doesn't leave much time for news.'**_

_**'How doesn't it? Clank knows about it too.'**_

_**I stayed quiet.**_

_**Another sigh. 'Anyways, to get you up to speed, they're talking about taking protective measures against a new type of virus that's been affecting people...'**_

_**'...and lemme guess,' I popped back out from the ship and peeked over at Talwyn, ' You're gonna go bonkers about needing hand sanitizers and-'**_

_**I narrowly missed dodging a shoe thrown at me. 'Hey! Watch what you throw! Those aren't mine!"**_

_**'Can't help it if you're just being rude.'**_

_**'But it's true! Remember the last time they said something similar?'**_

_**There was no response, which for a while made me feel guilty. I slowly peeked out from top of the ship to find Tal looking down.**_

_**Crap. 'Tal...look, I didn't mean to be rude...I was-'**_

_**'I guess you're right then,' she cut me off. 'Maybe I was overreacting those other times. But I have a bad feeling that this one's different, and even if it's nothing serious I wouldn't want you to get sick...you know?'**_

_**I looked at her. 'Organics- type of sickness?'**_

_**She nodded.**_

_**I got down from Aphelion and walked right over. She scooted a little to the side so I could sit.**_

_**'Listen Tal, don't worry!' I smiled, trying to cheer her up. 'nothing will happen, and besides, I don't get sick easily so you needn't worry!'**_

_**okay, so it wasn't that cheery and directed towards her. But she got the gist so I hugged her; all she did was smile and nod...**_

* * *

I don't know how long I was in that flashback, but I was soon snapped out of it by my replica, who pouted a little when I came to.

"Well, that was long, you looked so pale! But let's move on, shall we? With Sasha Phyronix?" He moved my head to face her and again made me nod. "She's very _persistent_...determined to make sure that everyone she leads or defends come out okay. No wonder she was a good Captain, right?...say goodbye."

He fired another shot and I wiggled uncomfortably as Sasha opened her mouth before disappearing...

* * *

_**'...just calling to make sure you both are still fine -more focused on you though, Ratchet.' Sasha said as Clank and I were down on our couch. It had been 5 days since Talwyn had called up on me too, and now she's got Sasha doing it when Talwyn found out.**_

_**Sigh. Just another person who would contribute to ruining my HV time.**_

_**'We're fine, ' I frowned slightly. 'Talwyn made you call?'**_

_**Sasha sighed. 'It was out of my own accord, Ratchet.'**_

_**'Well, I can hardly believe tha-'**_

_**'Do not worry, Miss Phyronix,' Clank butted in, giving me a stern look, 'I will be watching him just in case any symptoms do show up. I understand how contagious this is.'**_

_**Sasha smiled warmly. 'That's good... I really wasn't expecting Metropolis to get hit hard by this thing, and seeing what happened yesterday...'**_

_**Right. What happened to the dude downtown...**_

_**'We have multiple doctors from different planets also reporting the same thing, but in much milder cases. The Galactic President is being briefed on this...But I'm much more worried about you-'**_

_**Yawn.**_

_**'I'll be fine, Sasha. I don't get sick that easily, anyways,' I assured them both. **_

_**"Its not your immune system I'm worried about.**_

_**"Whatever, Ill be careful, okay?"**_

_**I stretched on the couch right after. All they did was slowly nod before exchanging goodbyes. Right before she was about to tap out, I ended up coughing violently. Clank and Sasha turned to look at me wearing mortified expressions on their faces.**_

_**I peeped up and smiled mischievously.**_

_**'Major look.!**_

_**'Ratchet!'**_

_**That's when I've realized that I've never felt Clank hit me so hard in my life...**_

* * *

"Stop leaving me alone, you dickhead!," my replica shook my head rapidly in false anger. "I'm still talking to you!"

"Its...unwanted..." I muttered. I was becoming sick and queezy.

"Moving on. Oh! Let's kill off Captain Quark here! He's been an idiot, me and you could agree on that. But he's your funny side, if you've noticed. Except he's still dumb. Goodbye, fake hero."

_Oh mother of mercy, shoot me..._

* * *

_**'Why are you avoiding me?' I frowned.**_

_**Captain Quark, who came to visit after a trip to a tundra planet that involved finding some jerk that stole one of his comics, inched away every time I approached. I didn't notice it at first, as with all the little things he did while at it, but when I did it started to become annoying.**_

_**'ooh...I don't know...' he said shakily and backed away whenever I went to reach over him for the box of tissues.**_

_**I sunk into the couch and blew my nose. 'I'm not going to kill youuuu...' I said with a small grin. He didnt see it.**_

**_'You might!' he exclaimed, obviously worried about himself, "Im to young to die today, my furry friend. Ive got lives to live."_**

**_I facepalmed. "Its just a cold, Quark. What else could I have gotten from helping you in an ICY PLANET?"_**

_**We waited for Clank to come back. When he did, we all sat down and channel surfed a bit, pausing once or twice for a peak of interest in a show or movie and eating the popcorn tubs that Clank had prepared**_

_**At least I had one for myself. Quark had a separate one 'for safety', as Clank placed it.**_

_**During a flick starring some robot whose name was 'double 99', Quark complained about having too much 'sodium chloride' (who told him that meant salt?). I offered to go and get drinks -though I also wanted to leave and get air- but Clank decided to fetch them, thus leaving the dude and me alone once more.**_

_**I grinned.**_

_**'Excussss-y,' I sang as I reached over him again for more tissues.**_

_**Quark leaned deeper into his seat. 'How about I give you the box-'**_

_**'No! I like it there, and-aaa...aaCHOOO!'**_

_**I coughed at him. Watched him jump off his seat so high I though he was going to break our roof and go beyond the frontier.**_

_**'Aaaieeeekkk!"**_

_**Clank ran into the room and I could see his face when he saw Quark lying on the floor.**_

_**I laughed.**_

* * *

I grew tired, and really sick. I don't think I was able to keep my eyes open of my hands from maintaining my weight from the ground. The only thing that was helping me even remain standing was my replica's hands on my neck and cheeks, holding my head. I closed my eyes and felt him nuzzle me.

"And then there was one."

_Clank..._

"You wouldn't...dare hurt him..." I growled angrily. He didn't seem fazed, more amused then the latter.

"Of course I wouldn't. I leave that to you." He placed my hands on the weapon, and once his were on top of mine he made me fire it.

.._.Fire at Clank..._

* * *

_**'Ratchet? Ratchet are you okay?'**_

_**I opened my eyes as I felt someone tugging on my covers gently. I opened my eyes weakly and peeped out of a small makeshift hole I formed for oxygen.**_

_**Clank looked at me worriedly as I shifted myself into a sitting position.**_

_**'Hey, pal,' I smiled faintly, 'What's up?'**_

_**'You have been asleep for 16 hours now,' the small robot said. 'Do you not think that is enough?'**_

_**I shrugged. He sat down next to me, and his movements created a small draft. I shuddered, tightening the covers closer to my body to conserve whatever body heat I had left.**_

_**"Ratchet.."**_

_**'Clank, please. let's not start this again...'**_

_**'But we need to take you to the hospital now, Ratchet. You need medical attention and I cannot wait for your 'invincible immune system' to kick in-'**_

_**'You just need to wait, pal...I'll get better...just need to...'**_

_**I felt metal arms grip my arm. I shuddered by how cold they were and they retracted. 'Ratchet, I have been with you long enough to note that your sick days tend to last about 2-3 days, not 6-8!'**_

_**I peeped back inside my covers and covered my ears.**_

_**Clank looked away. 'I told Miss Talwyn and Sasha that I would look out for you if you displayed symptoms. Having you stay here bedwritten all day due to your suggestion is not taking care of you, especially since your illness has worsened.'**_

_**I frowned. 'No it hasn't.'**_

_**'So fainting during dinners and having to wake up at all hours of the night to get help in walking to the bathroom to alleviate and vomit is your version of normal?'**_

_**'Yes...no...At least it's not like 4 days ago- ahh!'**_

_**I automatically stopped taking and grabbed my chest, clutching my shirt tightly. There was a sharp pain that had suddenly overtaken me, as if though someone had stabbed me deeply and kept digging further and further. It hurt so badly, I lifted my head up and opened my mouth to scream, but only a small croak came out.**_

_**'Ratchet!' I heard Clank gasp when he noted my silence and sudden jolt. 'Oh dear...Ratchet, please hang on, I will call for help-'**_

_**I squinted as tears fell down from my eyes. They began to hurt, becoming quickly sensitive to the light that I couldn't see anymore. My head hurted due to this, and combined with the chest pain and now growing feeling of faint and nausea, made me feel incredibly weak that after 3 minutes of feeling this way I gave out.**_

_**All I saw was black, and echoes of someone calmly calling my name...**_

* * *

I felt my heart beat rapidly before it stopped for a brief second. It was like everything stopped once it was all over. I froze on the spot, my eyes wide open and my mouth as well. The only support keeping me up ended up letting me go, and I didn't bother to break my fall.

I hit the floor _hard._

"So, still thinking about this all _'being fake_', Ratchet?"

I drew in small, jagged breaths. My mind was blank. I responded with silence.

_Why..._

"Well, it was fun while it lasted, right? Shooting your so called 'friends'?"

_It can't..._

"You're no fun...mehhhhhh!"

I gripped my hands tightly. "And...who are you...then...to me...?" I said with slight difficulty as I struggled to get up on my knees. "What...are you...?"

A laugh. "I'm glad you've finally taken interest...though it had to be done in that way to say it." My replica cooked as leaned closer to my shaking figure. "Lets not hold this any longer than, _shall we_?"

I waited to hear what he had to say, but he decided to wait a little till the suspense hit high before standing up above me and held out the Praetorian wrench to himself with a sinister psychotic grin.

"To you, dear Ratchet...I'm the insanity that has been kept under wraps all this time...The you that has always hidden deep inside due to your stupid attempts to understand everything and everyone... the you whose mind that has been broken over and over and over...oh _son of the heavens_, I've been broken..!"

"That's...that's not...you're not me...I'm not..." I squeezed my clutched hands tightly that I couldn't feel it anymore. "I'm not you..."

"Of course I am...and it's about time _you_ get the entire picture now."

Everything turned black.

* * *

*********Author's Note**

**Thank you people who had commented on my story! i'm so grateful for them! It makes me feel really really happy that there are some out there that actually liked this story that Im just happily writing out. I could start to mention all you out now, but I need to go to sleep (had a really long day today) **

**One thing: There has been a change of plans...it doesnt end next chapter. Chapter 10 will be posted up when I finish it, and then the epilogue (it has gotten a little bigger, so I separated this doc a little so that it doesn't overwhelm anyone, and for revision purposes.**

**if it starts to get confusing, make sure to read this entire story beforehand. Im pretty sure I made it understandable (or did i...?)**

**thank you all, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! (get ready for the next one!)**


	10. Requiem For an Everlasting Dream

_Everything you've done..._

_...Everything you've tried to do..._

_...in the end...nothing worked..._

_It hasn't worked..._

_Why...?_

_**'I...I'm awake in my dream!' I shouted in joy. 'That's why this whole things been strange...This is so frickin' cool, yo!'**_

_Nothing..._

_**I walked around the sunny Luminopolis city, the area I had once walked around in without any care and oblivious before I snapped into the realization. It was unexpected.**_

_**It was so awesome.**_

_**I spun around a tree, and even rode the city's hover taxis and had some fun grinding on every train rail and huge metal wire supports thrown at me while seeing everything change to what I want it to be. It felt amazing to be awake: to have complete control of everything and everyone and just do whatever I wanted.**_

_**Whatever I felt like.**_

_It was innocence...childish innocence..._

_**'I hope this never ends!,' I laughed as I replayed a funny moment. 'This is so fun. I can't wait to tell Clank...'**_

_How I wished it wasn't true..._

_**'Alrighty then... this getting to be a little too much..'**_

_**I walked around the city, dodging and avoiding the people there who kept looking at me with those weird eyes, as if someone had died and I'm the only one who didn't get the memo. It was unnerving, and they only seemed to get stranger and follow me. Like zombies..**_

_**Maybe I watched too much movies? **_

_**Yea, that's probably why.**_

_Lies..._

_**I managed to scamper on to our apartment that we had on this planet without any more encounters and closed the door behind me quickly. **_

_**Safety. At home and safe from the weirdness that happened so suddenly.**_

_**' Clank?' I called out across the room. But he did not answer back.**_

_**Maybe no one was home? But-'**_

_**'Ratchet!' **_

_**I hear that familiar voice and I smiled and spun around, relieved to be able to talk to my pal about this whole thing.**_

_**He didn't look in the mood to talk.**_

_**'Ratchet, we need to get you out of here!' He repeated over and over. 'This place is not safe! They will be coming-'**_

_It was never real.._

_**'Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on there, buddy!' I smiled and placed my hands on my hips. What a change of pace. 'Is this supposed to be a horror genre now? No one's coming for anyone.'**_

_**Clank pulled on me. ' But you do not understand the-'**_

_**'Listen, pal. No one's coming-'**_

_**That's when we both heard what sounded like a roar in the distance that shook the whole area, followed by the fog and the sudden noise of a door being ripped apart from its foundation.**_

_**'Son of aaaaaa-'**_

_Nothing worked..._

_And thus I remained here...yet again..._

_**'Huh...? I'm dreaming...? But how come haven't I woken up by now...?'**_

_**I happened to realize this while walking around the light filled streets of Luminopolis yet again, doing my normal things and looking at people once more. I actually thought it was just another normal day -until I found out what today's date was.**_

_**April 25.**_

_**Why..? Isn't it May 21 now...**_

_It was always the same..._

_**By now the city has lost its splendor for me; no longer was the city full of lights as shining and beautiful as I had always believed when I made the infrequent trips down here, every 1-2 a year. It was starting to get repetitive. Everything wasn't right.**_

_**How come I didn't wake up yet?**_

_**Why...?**_

_Thus your seed of psychosis was created..._

_Each time you opened your eyes, each time you snuck off out of your variously changing rooms and out into the city, I saw it all... _

_Each time you felt the sickening feeling of finding out that it was April 25. _

_Each time you broke down..._

_...doing the same things you had done over and over again_

_ you would try to make yourself scared, frightened, die..._

_Anything to get yourself to wake up._

_**'This isn't right...' I slumped down on the ground as the rain fell down silently, hitting my face and washing away my tears. 'This isn't right...'**_

_And right you were...It was never right...and thus you repeated the cycle, over and over...and I took it in._

_But as you kept trying and trying to wake up, you became agitated..._

_Frustrated..._

_Sick..._

_... crazy_

_But each time, you've never shown it...Why?_

_It's the same logic as forgetting trauma. For each time you repeated your dreams, the previous memories were taken from you..._

_Sealed away somewhere in your head...locked to forget because you didn't want to remember the confusions..._

_The mistakes..._

_You never remembered things off the bat.._

_...little by little you were going away from your reality..._

_...Little by little...so far away..._

_Until you remember no more..._

_And Thus from your anger I was born._

* * *

My mouth was wide open, yet no words came out. I was alone in the Court of Azimuth. Alone on the ground when I came out of my memory daze, silently crying and staring blankly in shock. Waiting for everything to settle.

_What happened?_ I whispered when I came to. But I didn't need to have it answered. I already knew what.

He shot himself. _I shot myself._

His memories..._my memories_...

_It all made sense. Everything made sense...and I..._

'"...I've been here...since forever..." I said aloud to no one. Everyone was gone and I was alone.

I was alone in my dream and I didn't like it. But what could I do? I was scared. I wrapped my arms tightly around me and prayed for the dream to end. This was too much for me. I was frightened and confused about everything that I had found out.

Things that I don't remember having seen or done.

_taken from me and and given back over and over in cycles..._

Everything came back as small pictures; little images that floated in front of my eyes or jumped as I struggled to take it all in. To make it feel real. I tried...but in the end, I closed my eyes to avoid looking.

There were then the whispers, little whispers of words that were spoken in the cold voice of that who used to be my replica. I looked around to find out their origins until I realized that he was no more. I couldn't see him, he was but a memory now and I realized they were coming from inside my head.

I couldn't shut them out.

'_You are dying...dying dying dying..._

_So close...but..so far away ..._

_I'm bound..._

_...you will never wake up..._

_...you can't..._

"That's...that's not true...," I choked on my words as I cried, " I'm going to wake up soon...it's just a matter of time..."

_There is no time, Ratchet...Everything is done..._

_Set in stone..._

"You lie! I will wake up!" My words echoed throughout the room, bouncing on the walls as I screamed my loudest,"I will wake up...!"

_Oh? But I won't let you..._

I felt something crawl and slither onto my legs; looked down to find them sinking slowly into the flooring, merging into one and keeping me down. Bounded.

_I won't let you leave...because __**we**__ don't want to leave..._

"I do! I want to leave, I want to wake up now!" I cried out in anger, "let me go! Lemme go..!"

There was cackle of laughter that boomed throughout my head. I covered my ears but that did no good in calm my rising anxiety down. It kept increasing. I felt sick.

It was pointless

"i...I want...to leave..."

_You say that... but even still, you do not want to go..._

I shook around, trying desperately to get my legs freed but it was no use. They sunk lower and lower. Like my sanity.

"Please...I want to go...I don't want to stay here..."

_Yes, you do...You've never really wanted to leave...or I wouldn't have been created..._

It was hard getting air in, I felt like a fish out of the sea. I gasped and wheezed as slowly my body began to get sucked inside.

_Never coming out...never coming out...forever stuck within..._

"I'm getting out...I'm going to wake up..."

_Forever bounded by what you seek...destined to start again..._

I screamed a silent scream, there was a child's laughter and the sudden feeling of breathing no more.

Everything was black again. Everything felt cold.

Nothing existed.

I found myself back in the void of darkness, and I remained here for what seemed like forever.

Floating...suspended

Silent, emotionless...Blank...

...Forever silent_. _

_I was trying to find something...to look for the reason why I kept on sleeping..._

_I failed...My final ending..._

I shuddered.

_Alone...I'm too late..._

_...the reason..._

_forgotten..._

* * *

**_...You've always had a choice in waking up, Ratchet..._**

What...?

**_You always has a choice..._**

My eyes opened. I felt myself standing on solid ground and I looked up. No longer was I in the cold darkness of my mind. I found myself back in the destruction of the fake Luminopolis, clutching my cloak. Feeling the wind blew gently over the crackle and pop of weak and dying flames

It was becoming dawn in a new day.

"You've always had the choice in when you wanted to leave."

I remembered that voice. I turned around and found myself staring into the faces of the 3 people I've long forgotten...that I've tried to forget after everything that's happened.

_Hah..._

In front of me stood Alister Azimuth, and the 2 old warbot guardians of Talwyn's: Cronk and Zephyr.

"Hello...you three...," I choked out, "it's...nice..."

My legs grew weak, my vision blurred and I fell down. But I didn't hit the floor -someone caught me beforehand and I found myself sitting on my knees, my head resting on a breathing being's chest and crying silently. It was warm.

"A dream," Alister smiled as he spoke with a hushed, paternal tone. "It's just a dream, Ratchet. Just a bad dream..."

_You don't know how long I've wanted to feel this..._

"...and I know how confused and scared you are," he continued. "To have been told all this, to have realized how many times you've repeated this whole ordeal over and over, just trying to wake up. All those attempts ending in failure because of something..something holding you back."

He stayed silent for a few seconds. Long enough for me to listen to the wind blow, feet from the 2 bots making their way over to me, and the flames that slowly began to disappear off in the distance. But I paid it no mind, for right now I was transfixed by his soothing tone.

Silent tears trickled down and he wiped them away.

"Its the guilt you feel, Ratchet." His voice trembled as I could see he was about to cry. "The answer you have been looking for this whole time...the thing that has kept you repeating this insanity over and over...has been one that has haunted me when I was alive..."

_The guilt..._

I let out a small moan before I broke down and I let out loud sobs of frustration, of withheld sadness that had been pent up and packaged inside the box that is my heart, so that no one would ever see them again. Not because I was stubborn.

_It was because I had to be brave for everyone else._

The old Lombax rubbed my back as if I was a child, and I allowed myself to cry even louder, to be hugged, nuzzling my head deep in his warm embrace and continued crying it out. He didn't mind and I didn't feel bad.

_I felt safe._

"I miss you guys..." I said, "I'm so alone...and-"

"Ratchet, you're not alone!" Cronk and Zephyr said in unison. They looked at each other before they settled on who would speak first via rock paper scissors. It caused me to smile a little in between when they argued a little about who cheated and Alister had to break them up.

"Ya still have Miss Talwyn," Zephyr said first, patting my head, "and yer other pals Clank, Sasha Phyronix, and that lumbering Captain Quark...for some reason."

Cronk stepped forward. "You also got us to talk to!"

Alister and I looked at him, confused.

"Cronk, ya fool!," Zephyr pointed out as he smacked his partner upside the head. "We're dead, remember? We can't talk to him!"

"Not up to face, we can't. I'm sayin' about still being able to hear him, ya know?"

Zephyr looked as if he was about to say something, but he recanted when he figured what the old warbot was talking about and just nodded his head slowly, thinking it over.

I laughed.

"All in all, you always had a choice in finally awakening in the real world, kiddo." Alister smiled as he helped me up. "But your guilt got in the way of everything."

I nodded, sniffling. "And...about April 25...?"

"That's the day you had a full blown argument with Clank about him always trying to poke around your increasing walk schedules you've been takin'," Zephyr answered. Cronk agreed.

"Oh, so I did walk a lot even out... there...huh..." I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to remember. "And that's why..."

"More or less you won't remember much when you wake up, seeing how long you've been under. But it'll soon come back to you, don't worry." A female voice said, and I turned away from Alister and the warbots to see Talwyn, Clank, Quark and Sasha standing there.

I smiled.

"Don't feel bad for what happened to us," Cronk said, "what happened, happened, and that shouldn't let ya bring you down from enjoying those you have left."

"Ya still got them," Zephyr added, pointing to the group, "don't forget about them. They are what define ya. They should be what you should be carin' about!"

Alister helped me up before stepping beside them. "Don't hold things in, Ratchet. Look what it has done to me. Don't let that be what changes you. Promise me ...Promise us that."

I wiped away the leftover tears off my face and hugged each of them tightly. "I guess you three are right...I'm sorry...I shouldn't be holding things in like that..."

I took a deep breathe in and out, and I stepped back from them, feeling good...relieved and finally being able to have the burden taken off my shoulders... that everything was going to be alright. There was a sense of peace that washed over me, and as I allowed myself to bask in the new feeling I soon began to feel sleepy...heavy..

...happy.

_I promise..._

As they waved I closed my eyes for one last time, and heard the world shatter behind me.

* * *

*****Author's Note:**

**And thus concludes the 10th chapter of the series.**

**But of course, it's not done yet...Read the next chapter for the final ending to the whole story.**


	11. EPILOGUE: My dear friends

_"...cause and origins of this galaxy wide virus is still unknown, most of those in isolation have been released and are expected to make full recovery."_

Click

_"...the sudden appearance and disappearance of a mysterious contagion has gotten everyone talking-"_

Click

_"Like we tell everyone now, lady. We don't know anything new. The lab techies are still.."_

Click

_"Its time to play Spin the Wheel of Misfortune!__-"_

_..._

"KILL MEEEEEE," I groaned as I flopped lazily back onto my makeshift chair (consisting of pushy pillows and a blanket) and threw the remote to the side in deep frustration, "kill me please, there's nothing good on!"

Clank reached over for the poor remote and promptly turned off the HV. "I agree. Every channel has been mainly focused on what has happened recently."

Sigh. "Tell me about it, I don't think I've seen anything decent and fun on lately."

"Well, it was really big," Talwyn said from her place from the right side of the couch. "Of course it's still thriving."

"True..."

"Well, someone should kill it," Quark huffed from his place in the middle of the couch. "This trash's taken place of my new 3-hour infomercial, and those aren't cheaply made- by the way, you should all see it on channel 276, after the premier of my newest movie-"

"Someone shoot me with a hand cannon, I'm _bored_."

I received stares of annoyance and responded with a smile. "Just making it clear, hehe."

"Well, I'd like to take you up that offer, Ratchet"

I spun around. Sasha walked right into the living room with another pitcher of iced tea and some glasses and smiled when she looked at me. I could also see her lightly tapping her blaster on her belt with her free hand once she put down the pitcher.

_Okay...she meant business._

"uh...I'm terribly, _terribly_ sorry, Miss Phyronix. But that off has already left the table." I leaned my head onto Talwyn's legs and smiled. "I have some other offers still up, including a trip to your place to steal back my comic books. Sound good?"

Poke.

"Well, Sir Ratchet, Ill have to pass. You knew who you were messing with when you shoved snow inside my coat. Don't complain when I hold them hostage. Tea?"

I nodded with a pout as she filled glasses with the brown liquid for everyone and handed it over. Clank, Talwyn and Quark then shifted over so that the Cazarian could sit down.

We started at the blank screen for a while.

"So..." Sasha said as she took the tub of popcorn from Quark's hand. "HV's off...I take it you all haven't found anything?"

We all shook our heads and sighed. I decided to close my eyes for a while...

* * *

_So...it had been 4 days since I had woken up in a white room, weakly blinking and making out the fuzzy faces of Talwyn and Clank. Just only 3 days ago since I was declared "healthy" and released from the hospital, and 2 days of me sitting and staring at a blank HV screen in boredom due to the lack of content -new content- available._

_Wow, that went downhill. But not everything was boring like these past 2 days._

_On the day I was released and took my first steps into the sunlight of freedom, I found myself instantly hounded by the media, drawn like flies to the light. It was crazy, and I was instantly blinded by flashing lights and the like that I thought I was the Galactic President Phyronix himself!_

_They never left me alone, and though I somehow felt the thrill of excitement at the amount of people who were worried about me (due to the news channels reporting some famous people who were in some way affected; when it was known that I was sick, some fans sent letters and other things to Clank and Talwyn- who blushed when some of those letters mentioned us being together.) the feeling didn't last long -as I stared at them with my mouth in a tangle, I remembering dreaming about a similar situation._

**_But I couldn't help but to think about what the dream was, exactly..._**

_Talwyn ended up having to push through them so that we could get to Aphelion and go to our Metropolis home right away. They both hoped some rest would be good for me._

_Some good that did._

_After spending a day inside and trying to avoid calls and knocks on the door, and windows, we all decided it was best to quietly step away from all the chaos so I could get some peace. Thus we headed to Veldin, where I was surprisingly thrown a "Welcome home" party by some of my friends and acquaintances. We all had fun, and they all talked to me about what happened while I was out. I nodded every time, just smiling._

**_I've always felt that there was something I wanted to tell them..._**

_I kept nodding while they got through some other things like politics and favorite movie choices -sometimes even adding something- but I was more focused on remembering that dream then on fashion trends that the following day, I spent my time outside of my home, lying on my favorite rock with my eyes closed to think and remember..._

**_..It's been nagging me for days...I tried my best to bring it back but it never did..._**

_...But I ended up falling asleep with Clank by my side. Which led to some awkward moments._

**_...so it was forgotten for awhile._**

_And so here I am now...just days after being released..__.and just hanging out with the crew for a while._

_Now If only the news would have gotten the memo to forget about the sickness and bring back interesting things to watch..._

**_I'm still hoping it'll come back to me..._**

* * *

Everything was peacefully quiet -until I was startled by Talwyn nearly being knocked off her chair and her hands making contact on my head to prevent her fall.

"OOWW," I yelped, rubbing my head to sooth the pain. "Lombax in the bottom!"

"Sorry Ratchet," she apologised as she sat back down on the couch. "Quark pushed me off..."

We both glared at the captain, who looked the other way and apologised before suggesting with a happy tone that we all watch some of his movies. He then brandished a couple lists he had for us to choose from, but he was shot down by Sasha on the context of _'repetitive content'_ and he stopped talking.

"Wheel of Misfortune is good," Talwyn suggested next. "Last time they spun the wheel, one of the contestants had to declare bankruptcy."

We all stared at her as she laughed. She stopped when it was noted we weren't laughing along.

"What? It was funny!" She defended.

We kept staring at her. _What a weird sense of humor you have..._

The Markazian sunk in her chair. "That's off the option then..."

We remained silent again and resumed to Channel hopping in case anything good came up during the time it was off. But again it was just commercials, boring documentaries about nature or things related to the sickness -except for channel 1287, which had a rerun of "Wheel of Misfortune" playing when we went past it.

Talwyn downed her cup of iced tea. "Well, it's official: there's nothing else to watch that isn't about the aftermath and stuff."

We all nodded and followed suit with our teas.

"Well, I hope they can get done with that in 2 more days," I yawned. "Because we've getting reeeeally bored, and having nothing with action, blood and fights to watch during our HV hours sucks, right pal?"

Clank nodded. "I would at least like to see the science programs return with new episodes."

I laughed_._ "Yea...New science stuff..."_ Geek._

"Don't think that'll happen. Its going to stay on and die within a month...Unless a celebrity goofs off at some high end ceremony or some bad guy comes along," Sasha said in boredom. "But I'm sure it'd be long before anything like_ that_ would happen."

We all faced the HV screen again and sighed.

"Oh, hold on guys" I exclaimed, "the first one could be arranged, and I know who can do it!"

Everyone had their eyes on me as I sunk to the floor where Quark was sitting nearby and cried. "Quark, _do something embarrassing_!" I shouted in exasperation. "Please! For the love of all things action-y, _Save the HV channels_!"

"By doing something stupid in front of the public? NO WAY!"

"_Aww, come on_..."

"Nope."

"Why not, it's not like you don't do things like that everyday..."

"Wha-?"

"Ratchet! _Apologize_!"

"But _Whyyyy_? It's true..."

"Ratchet...!"

"Clank!...Ow! Okay, okay, okay, jeez..."

* * *

_There was more laughter that followed afterwards; I ended up apologizing (more like used double negatives to apologize) to Quark, who after ignoring me for half the apologizing accepted it (saying that he knows he's that bad ass) and soon we all found ourselves making food in the kitchen while waiting for the commercials to run so that we could watch "Wheel of Misfortune"._

_I remembered how hard I laughed when Clank lectured me about how "leaving any food under the fire" didn't mean it would "cook faster"._

**_Fire...let it all burn..._**

_I remembered how Clank and Talwyn kept telling us to be careful about choking, since we four were in hysterical fits of laughter and felt bad for the last 2 contestants on the show who believed they were going to win some fabulous prize if they got through the barrage of explosions thrown at them (which was false, if the name of the show doesn't give it away.)_

**_They were loud...and I didn't need to hear them to know the chaos I caused..._**

_And as Talwyn, Quark and Sasha stayed with Clank and I throughout the afternoon watching show after show, I excused myself during the middle of our marathon to step out and sit on my rock, watching the last bits of light disappear and bring in the night while also thinking about what fun the day had been._

_Yes, fun with them...smiling and happy_

**_Ya still have them...don't forget..._**

**_...They are what define ya, they should be what you should be carin' about..._**

**_Promise me...us..._**

I wiped away a small tear. "I promise...I won''t let it change me."

_That was when it hit me: I finally remembered.. It all came back in small pictures and I smiled as I took them all in, no longer afraid, but wanting. After a few more minutes of enjoying the crisp cold wind blowing on my fur, I got up from my special area and walked back, ready to share with them what I had wanted to say._

What I've been trying to remember...

_When I walked into the living room they all turned around to look at me, wondering where I was to have been gone for a while. I gathered them in a circle on the couch, turning off the HV before I spoke._

"Hey guys, wanna hear a story?"

** [END of OBSIDIAN MIND- EPILOGUE]**

* * *

*******Author's Note:**

**So there. There it is, the final ending to the story of Ratchet and his ordeal.**

**I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to those who showed interest in my story, and left comments down to show their support:**

**Crescent Moon, ****Vengarl22, ****StarRider152, ****Bebuzzu**

**(and if the person who posted as a guest sees this) Meta-Lombax**

**I hope I did justice with chapters 10 and the Epilogue...I worked on it from the early hours of 4am-8pm editing, deleting and much more to get it like it is now...and kinda made Ratchet be so...yea...angst? **

**But then again, I've always wanted to explore the part of Ratchet that still shows guilt for seeing the deaths of both Cronk and Zephyr in _Into the Nexus_ and losing the only (other) Lombax that he met, Alister Azimuth, in _A Crack In Time_. I pictured him still holding himself responsible and thus, was the reason why he had been trapped inside his dreams, replaying everything over and over until he himself realized why and finally moved on.**

**I mean, I did also have experience when a friend of mine, a gamer, died and I never knew until her brother saw the mounds of emails I sent asking whether she was angry with me or something. He had revealed to me that she had passed away early August of 2013. I dont really think Ive gotten over it much, but I do feel like I can move on, knowing that she wasn't ever mad with me and that I managed to make her laugh a lot and even role played a while with her, too.**

**so, I guess this is it, the end of this story. And it made me feel better writing it.**

**Look forward for another story in the works...and some random stuff too!**

**(I'm also up for collaborating with others XD)**

**-AUselessMicroFluff**

**Ps: Obsidian Mind "Power from the Ash" - Exotic Warlock helmet, favored by Voidwalkers**


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